Still more female TMI

I'm here to whinge to you all about thrush.

No, not this little guy that I found on the internet. Though he is a lot more pleasant to look at. The picture is from this site.

Thrush is a naturally-orruring yeast.  It is kept in check by naturally-occuring bacteria. When you take antibiotics, bacteria die. Thrush sees its opportunity and GOES INSANE.

Last year, I had to take four days off work because I had it so badly that I couldn't walk. Peeing was so painful that, on the second day of my confinement (I started having symptoms a few days before it became crippling), I nearly threw up and then nearly passed out.

Even a standard infection is itchy and burny and just generally unpleasant. WHY IS IT EVEN THERE?? I'll bet no one even knows what this damned yeast actually DOES. I'll bet that the only reason those bacteira exist is to keep the thrush in check. I can just see it*:

Bacterium 1: Why are we here, Syd?

Bacterium 2: Ah, the fundamental question of the universe! Why are we here? What is our purpose? How...

B1: No, no no! I mean, why are we here? In this dark, damp place?

B2: Oh! Well, to keep those guys over there in line!

B1: Well, why are they here?

B2: Well, I guess they're here so that we have something to do...

B1: So what you're saying is that they're only here because we're here, and we're only here because they're here. Would anyone even notice if we all just left??

B2: ...

*Inspiration for this dialogue was taken from Red vs Blue, because that show rocks.

Snapshots of my world (part 1)

I'm not dedicated enough to do something like Project 365 or A Day in Pictures, but I do want to show  you a bit more about the world I live in, so I'll be taking and posting pictures of various parts of it. No idea how many pictures, no specific deadline.

So, here is the first one: My desk at work.

It includes:

• My Dr Who lunch box
• My personal electric fan
• My laptop and its accessories
• Stationery
• Teacup, coffee mug, tea
• Sunglasses
• Safety goggles

It doesn't look very neat, but this is actually after half an hour of tidying and rearranging. The textbooks are on a shelf which is on the adjacent wall, as is more stationery. I don't have a lot of room for it, because directly above where the photo ends is a window looking into the classroom, which I can't obscure.

This is my basket:

I use it to transport stationery to class. I got this big basket because carrying everything in a smaller basket last year didn't work. So, I'm trying something different! I consider this to be part of my never-ending quest for neatness!

ADHD 101: Taking things literally

ADHD shares a few characteristics with Aspberger's, and one of the overlapping areas is that of taking things literally.

I not only take things literally and get mental images to suit (eg: "undressing you with my eyes" - EW EW EW GROSS!), but I also answer questions far more literally than most people do, and the result is that I come across as a smart arse. Here are some examples of conversations I've had.

Example 1:
Me: My friend is having an identity crisis.
Her: Oh no! What about?
Me: Um... Himself?

Example 2:
Her: Why are you slicing up those mushrooms?
Me: Because I'm planning to cook with them.

Example 3 (we'd arranged to meet at the Southland Shopping Centre food court):
Her: Where are you?
Me: Southland.

It's not just that it's literal, I tend to take a broader interpretation. I'm not sure whether I can blame it entirely on being a "big picture" thinker, but what the hell.

So, when you're asking me a question and you want a specific answer, you do actually need to be specific yourself or you'll end up frustrated and I'll just be confused!

Hooray!

Yesterday, I did the Melbourne Summer Cycle! All 40km, and I didn't walk my bike for any of it! Not even going up the West Gate Bridge! =D

It was rather awesome. I had friends around me to talk to, and my darling Oolon Colluphid waiting for me at the finish line. He'll be competing with me next year, when he doesn't have a thesis deadline looming.

He also rescued me earlier in the morning. You see, forgetfulness is one of my trademarks. I've been known to show up to school concerts where I was going to play in the orchestra having left my instrument at home. Thankfully I did not forget my bike yesterday morning, but I did forget something without which I also couldn't ride: My helmet. Here in Australia, it is illegal to cycle without one so having forgotten it meant that I was stuck at the starting line. I could have bought a helmet from one of the stalls that was set up in the park but, because I'd just spent several hundred dollars on dental maintenance a few days earlier, I really can't afford to buy a new helmet when I already have a perfectly good one.  

The wonderful, wonderful man brought it over for me. I can't praise him enough for putting up with my brain wackiness and helping me out when it's important to me. So, I'm taking him out for dinner in the near future as a token of my thanks :-)

It was fun. I raised money, I rode the bike, I got to the finish line. I so totally rock!

Books I can't read

Recently, I blogged about what I look for in a film. Now lets have a look at some of the things that I find important in books.

Everyone has a style of book they like to read, and styles that they don’t. We all have books we love, and books we loathe.

When I’m reading a book, the main thing it needs is a good story that is comprehensive and moves along at a reasonable pace. This is why I never got through The Wheel of Time, by Robert Jordan. It also needs a reasonably well-constructed and consistent world. On that note:

There is one series of books that I was never able to read: The Lord Of The Rings series. I just couldn’t do it, and it's not through lack of trying. I tried about 4 times. I mean that quite seriously - four attempts. Never got to the end of The Fellowship. I also tried The Hobbit a couple of times. Couldn’t get through that one, either.

Part of the problem is just how much descriptive writing there is. Some people love this style of writing; they love the thought and detail that the author put into their construction of the world; they appreciate being able to read the effort that went into designing all the aspects of the book before it was put together into a novel. Some people need that much detail to be able to construct images of what is going on. I'm not like that.

Unfortunately, I have an extremely visual brain.  If the author says “grassy hills”, my brain inserts that image for me. Saying “Grassy hills on a partly cloudy day”, my brain gives me hills with grass, clouds in the sky, and corresponding patches of shade. It'll even insert the breeze that makes the grass sway.

If an author tells me that there is a door, my brain immediately forms the image of the door, which is mostly complete. The colour of the wood, how it’s carved, the relative dimensions, and these will depend partly on the context and the location of the door.

If the author then starts giving more and more information on the door after said door has already been inserted (colour, grain, type of knob, etc etc), my brain has to rebuild the image it already has which causes me to overload on information, put the book away and avoid ever picking it up again.

I don’t care how many shades of green the grass is - I can handle that bit. Get on with the story, please. Let me construct my own doors.

Like with movies, this is a matter of balance. World-building, action scenes and social commentary (Hugo, Tolstoy; I’m glaring at both of you!) should not overpower the plot. This has caused me issues with Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency by Douglass Adams (which I still got through and liked in general), and also with Ringworld by Larry Niven (which I read and kinda hated, despite falling in love with the idea of a Ringworld).

It’s also why I like the writing of Sarah Douglass (The Troy Game is my favourite series), as she writes for people like me.

So if I tell you that no, I have not read The Lord of the Rings but the movies were OK, and that I’ve only read the abridged version of Les Mis, but I loved the musical, don’t look at me like there’s something wrong with me. It’s entirely to do with the way my brain constructs images, and the way it overloads when it is given too many things to factor in at one time.

Or, to put it simply, I have a Powerful Imagination!